Cursed Words
by Chelseadaggz
Summary: Regina is plagued by nightmares of the night the curse struck, she keeps seeing Daniel's face but it's slowly forming into James'/David's confusing and quite frankly scaring her. David can't seem to get the mayor out of his head. Using the excuse of the night she found him as a topic of conversation, will he take a chance and find out what these new feelings mean? EvilCharming


**So some of you may recognize this as an early story of mine though I have fleshed some parts out. I came across it again a few days ago and found that I loved the beginning that I had written already but didn't like where it had gone after that, I lost the love I had for it and wrote simply to get chapters out as opposed to telling a story. **

**Anyway I hope you like the changes and the first chapter, more shall be up soon after I have done some editing. Please read and review. **

**Find me on Tumblr, my name is ChelseaDaggz so feel free to pop on over and send me a message :D**

The feeling ripped through her body, screaming out through every inch of her being though it didn't hurt, it felt magnificent. Below her crouched Snow White pitifully crying over her Charming, hopelessness slowly consuming her as did the darkness from the curse. _Well at least now you know, _came the bitter thought, _though you will never feel the pain I did._

Finally Snow White had lost everything, finally Regina had won. The room around them was slowly beginning to disintegrate pulling them further into the darkness and heightening the pleasure she was feeling. Soon she would wake up and reap the benefits of her curse, she would awaken in a place full of those whom she had cursed yet would never again be able to harm her, to hurt her like they always had, this was her happy ending. She could feel it now, more powerful than before flowing through her veins like fire, it was pure ecstasy. Before they were taken completely she stole one last look at the two below her.

Drinking in the despair on Snow's face she grinned manically but it soon faltered when for a heart stopping moment Snow's face was replaced with her own. Her breath caught in her throat as James' body was replaced with Daniel's, her younger self clawing at his chest desperately trying to find a heart-beat that could never be felt. Tears welled up in the Queen's eyes as she slowly reached forward, using all of her strength to keep herself strong against the storm that was tearing the room apart. She was within reach of him, if she could just touch him one last time, just trace the contours of his face as she had done all those years ago.

Her fingers edged closer and closer, desperation and panic gripped her as she could feel the process was almost complete, this world was slipping away and now so was Daniel once more. In a last ditch attempt she threw herself towards him, reaching out with desperate fingers but instead of hitting the ground next to him she kept on falling.

Further and further, spinning deeper into the darkness, it consumed her entirely, she felt sick. Her hands lashed out trying to find something to grip onto, had he tricked her? Was this the imp's way of toying with her once more? Trapping her in eternal darkness? Her throat felt like it was closing in on itself from sheer panic, why hadn't it stopped? Why was she still spinning? The darkness was never her friend, no matter how terrifying she appeared to others, she would always be the little girl afraid of the darkness that came with her mother's endless punishments. Too many hours spent praying for sunlight and freedom.

Breathing was becoming hard now, her lungs burned and screamed for air but to no avail, there was an uncomfortable kind of heat surrounding her descending form, and it was sickly and sweaty. Slowly she felt her mind shutting down; images flowed through her mind one after the other at a nauseating pace - her mother, the disdain and disappointment evident in her purpling eyes. The look she gave before a strict beating came Regina's way as punishment for disobedience. Her father's face, smiling, shining with unbridled devotion, comforting her, and then distorting with panic and fear as it had done when she ripped his heart from his chest. The emptiness in his eyes as he had fallen to the ground. Daniel, the adoration for her evident in his kind blue eyes, slowly fading as they deadened and finally, before her mind shut off completely - Rumpelstiltskin, grinning at her as she fell, yet his expression didn't change, his eyes held hers until she finally succumbed, his skin glittering without aid of a light.

Then complete darkness.

* * *

She felt her throat loosen and gasping she drank in the air around her. It was still dark but this darkness was different, it wasn't suffocating. It felt safe, the safety you normally feel when you've had a nightmare and have been able to pull back some sort of consciousness. You're safe from the terror but you have yet to face to world.

Relief flooded through her as she realised she was in her bed, her legs had become tangled in her blankets due to the frantic thrashing she must have performed in her sleep. The weight of her body upon the mattress gave the feeling of being cradled by it, protected from the nightmare. The darkness of the room had been created by the thick curtains hanging over her windows in order to keep the light of morning from streaming in at the crack of dawn.

Slowly she opened her eyes and gazed sleepily at her white ceiling, she still couldn't shake the anxiety from her body left behind by his taunting, glittering face. She'd had this nightmare ever since they had arrived in Storybrooke, a sick souvenir of the curse from the imp she expected.

She always felt there was something more to the dream though, yes she'd already deduced that she saw herself instead of Snow because it mirrored the night that Daniel had died. Snow's desperation to believe that James couldn't be dead matched Regina's when she tried to bring Daniel back with only one difference, Snow's hope had remained whereas Regina's had been dashed with the sealing of her fate at her mother's hands. No, it was more than that. With every passing night that it reoccurred, Daniels face was becoming more and more like James' and she couldn't fathom why.

It wasn't as if she liked him in any way, in fact she loathed him for letting Snow have the happiness that Regina deserved...maybe that was it? She felt like Charming should've chosen her, loved her?

"No," she let the thought slip from her mind. What a ridiculous idea, she scolded internally. The mere thought of Snow White's husband having any kind of interest in her made her feel…_huh._

Untangling her legs from the blankets she slid gracefully from her bed and padded towards her sons room, the thick carpet beneath her feet was somewhat comforting, she always felt the need for stability after the dream and her home provided that for her.

"Henry," she called softly, her voice still slightly dry from lack of use, "it's time to get up sweetheart, what would you like for breakfast?" But as she rounded the doorframe into his room she realised his bed was already made. His school uniform no longer lay neatly on the chair at the end of his bed; instead it had been replaced with his pyjamas hanging haphazardly over the armrest. It was something she had taught him to do since he was old enough to understand and happened to be one of the few rules he seemed to follow these days.

With a heavy sigh she moved downstairs towards the dining room where she could hear a spoon noisily scraping the bottom of a bowl, she had always seen cereal as some kind of peasants food, something quick and effortless couldn't be nutritious could it? Especially not with the amount of sugar Henry would sprinkle over it when she wasn't looking. Rounding the corner she found him with his back to her, unsurprisingly he didn't turn when he heard her arrival.

"Morning Henry," she called to no response, he hadn't even looked up at her.

Swallowing the lump that inevitably formed in her throat every time he treated her with such disregard, she carried on as if he hadn't just ignored her, something she had grown used to doing out of necessity.

"You're up early," she laced the statement with a question hoping he would answer.

"You were doing it again," he replied moodily, she longed for the days when he would run into her room of a morning and wake her with a kiss, a cuddle and a smile. "You were shouting out…"

Regina felt a pang of shame throughout her body knowing the toll her mental state in sleep was taking on her son, "I apologize Henry," and she really was sorry, not that he would ever accept that, to him she was nothing more than the Evil Queen, "I really am trying to stop."

"Guilty conscience" He muttered under his breath quietly as he left the table but she caught it and it hurt just as much as his other accusations did. Every scathing remark from the boy who had once idolized her was like a knife to her skin.

She felt the anger rise up into her throat like bile, this was Mary Margaret's doing, Snow White's counterpart. If she hadn't given Henry that ridiculous book their relationship would've been much different. She did truly love him and it broke a little piece of her already tired heart every time he denied her. It hurt even more so now that he openly gave the affections that were once directed at her being given to Emma Swan, his birth mother. The woman had given him away ten years ago, she had to be dragged into the town by him practically kicking and screaming and constantly told of how she wasn't equipped to be a mother yet he loved her regardless. It deeply saddened the woman that had raised him without complaint for ten years, had chased away the monsters at night, had made his favourite breakfast whenever he felt unwell or unhappy but none of it seemed to matter to him, not anymore.

* * *

Once they were safely buckled up in her Mercedes she turned the engine on, quickly glancing into her rear-view mirror which was fixed on Henry's face she turned the engine off again. She saw the confusion in his eyes when his head snapped around from looking out of the window at nothing in particular, mainly because he didn't want to have to look at her.

"Henry," she started, taking note of the disdain in his eyes but pushing it to the back of her mind as always. "You know I love you right?"

He paused for a moment considering her answer but thought it best not to start an argument before a day in school, he knew she'd bring it up again later - she always did. He looked at her eyes gazing softly at him through the mirror and felt the same battle raging inside his small brain. On the one hand, he could accept the love she had been so willing to give him from the moment she adopted him but what if it was a trick? A way to stop him from breaking her curse and forgetting all about 'Operation Cobra'. She'd not only forced all of these once happy, vibrant people here to this miserable town, she'd brought him too. Cursing him to live his life as The Evil Queen's son without a choice of his own, no, she needed to be stopped.

Hope swelled within her at the sight of him considering her words, his eyes always gave him away and she knew that with every sincere declaration of her love, she was beginning to get through to him once more but the bubble was soon burst with his reply.

"I'm gonna be late for school." She tried to stop the tears that came with his stinging words but didn't have to when his gaze returned instantly to the air outside of the window. She could allow her tears to freely fall for the ten minutes it took to arrive at their destination, Henry wouldn't see them and even if he did he wouldn't care to ask.

As soon as her son had run far too eagerly from her car into school the moment they had come to a standstill, she slipped her mask back on. No more hurt in her eyes, no more tears to be cried. She had work to do. This town may be cursed but it would not come to ruin under her power, especially with the blonde lurking in wait to take her down.

With Emma forming a stronger relationship with Henry than what Regina had, something had to be done. She stopped her car across the road from Granny's diner and sauntered in for her morning coffee, the broken mother in her remained hidden until she would return home that evening. She pretended not to notice the gazes of fear in the eyes she could see and glares she received behind her back, she was far too used to it to care by now. Upon reaching the far side of the counter she found James, no David, she corrected herself internally… she never slipped up, ever. Why was he in her head? Luckily his back was turned because what happened next shocked her to her core.

As Leroy, the town drunk stumbled into the diner, glaring at the mayor as he always did so beautifully, he carried the wind with him. It washed over David, causing her head to spin with his heady aroma. She couldn't put her finger on what the smell reminded her of but it filled every part of her being. She closed her eyes in order to properly gather her thoughts and was brought back to her senses by his deep tone.

"Madame Mayor, everything ok?" He asked with genuine concern lacing his voice, something she was not very accustomed to. Her brown eyes snapped open at the question and met his own. David's icy blue eyes reminded her so much of Daniel's yet there was something else there, something different.

Her eyes snapped away from his as she cleared her throat.

"Uh yes, thank you Ja-David!" She stumbled, "just a headache, busy morning. Life of a mayor I suppose." She laughed nervously, why couldn't she shut up?

When she finally found the courage to look up from her hands fidgeting on the counter, she found him to be studying her with a small smile playing at the corners of his lips, though what he found so interesting she did not know. It made her feel uneasy so once again she looked back at her hands, kicking herself as she could feel colour burning in her tanned cheeks.

"Here's your order David." Sang Red's obnoxious voice. There was something about that girl that had always rubbed Regina the wrong way. If it wasn't the barely-there hot pants that she deemed suitable attire for a place in which food was served, it was the memory of her alliance with Snow White; she was an enemy by association even though the young brunette had no idea.

At first David was still transfixed by the mayor, the way in which her fingers ran through her dark hair if she became nervous, it was a tell of hers yet he couldn't for the life of him understand how he knew that. With an impatient tap on the counter Red brought him out of it, smiling nervously as he placed he money down and picked up his coffee, the heat against his hand almost matched the raging fire that coursed through him at having Regina so close to him. He made his excuses and slowly backed out of the diner, not daring another glance at Regina in case he couldn't break away.

* * *

On his way to the animal shelter he let his mind ponder over what had just happened. He knew Regina; they'd had many chats over the course of their ever growing friendship. Sure, he'd always feel a connection with her because the woman saved his life but no, this was different. It was as if this morning she was someone else, she looked exactly the same but the way she stumbled over her words when she spoke to him. That wasn't her, she was confident, cocky even not unsure of herself.

When he looked at her he realised he had never actually done it before. He had drunk in her features like the finest of wines. Her impossibly dark eyes that fell self-consciously to her small delicate hands, lean fingers playing with a small gold band that resided there, her full lips parted slightly in her confused state. Something was different between them and he was sure she felt it too.

This evening, he decided, he would speak to her himself. He could use the excuse of wanting to know how she found him to form the beginning of a conversation. After all he was curious and she was the only one who knew.

So if this was all innocent, why couldn't he get the image of her parted lips out of his mind?


End file.
